Quirky whimsical but quiet night away with dd

[myladyjane]

dd would like a night away as part of her 16th birthday present. Will be with just me and the key will be low key, low stress. She is very bookish and a massive introvert with quite a bit of social anxiety and this is designed to be a de-stress before her GCSEs start. Looking to go early March.

She quite likes unusual/quirky things to do - museums, galleries, quaint places to stroll around. She will eat anything and likes v relaxed street food type places. but she does want to spend a chunk of time quiet and reading her book.

We are Bristol area so not there/Bath. I can drive or we can take the train (from Bristol) but given we are only going overnight I don’t really want to travel more than 2 hours. We had thought of York as the train is direct but it’s 3.5 hours and a busy service so I want to explore alternatives.

I wondered about Oxford? If so any hotel recs - quirky but not fancy and I would need easy parking.

anywhere else?

My daughter loved Canterbury. Lots of independent shops and cat cafes. Fairly high on whimsy, but not wildly busy.

My teens enjoyed visiting Oxford. There are some excellent museums, good café culture, and of course lots of bookshops. There's punting and the ice rink as well. I can't advise on hotels though as we are strictly Premier Inn people.

Oxford P&R is easy and very reasonable for overnight stays. Take her to Blackwells with the gift of a book token. Then take her on a tour of the Oxfod Colleges used for filming Harry Potter.

I always find Oxford quite busy and overwhelming. Prefer Cambridge as a place, but that may not work from Bristol for a night.

If she’s bookish, would something like Hay on Wye suit her?

Edinburgh was my first thought, it’s a very easy 1hr flight from Bristol if you’re open to flying.

Seconding Hay, also Stroud? Monmouth?

What about Cardiff? It is a capital city so it has various museums etc but it is still small enough to walk around. The National Museum has a Gwen John exhibition until June ("She saw the world differently — quietly, attentively, and with extraordinary depth").
Cardiff used to have interesting shops in the Arcades, don't know if they still exist.
If you go really early in March - say St David's Day - then there might be some stuff going on.

Lulworth Lodge in Dorset - very cosy, quirky and amazing views.

Oxford is a good idea. If she likes quaint places you could visit the Pitt Rivers museum and look around some of the older colleges with great gargoyles and quads. She's bookish, so a visit to Blackwells would be great. Lots of towers to climb, candlelit concerts in stunning chapels, plenty of cosy cafes and a wide range of places to eat from cheap street food to fancy restaurants (and good value ones too.)

Hays festival?

Somewhere smaller than Oxford- Cambridge is lovely. Dorchester? St Albans? Winchester? Hay?

Portmerion in Wales?

Seconding Portmerion.

Oxford would be fab. I recommend The Crazy Bear as a fab, and quirky, place to stay.

Possibly a bit too far for you, but I bought my dd and partner a stay at the Mermaid Inn in Rye as a Christmas gift. It's an amazing place, full of history, secret staircases hidden behind bookcase doors haunted rooms open fires, beams and panelling galore. They have a winter rate until the end of March and if you book a stay on the last Sunday of the month, the lovely lady owner gives a guided tour of the inn. I'd booked them into a room once used by the Queen Mother and they both loved it!

Oxford, definitely. You could stay at Malmaison in a former prison cell (it’s very cosy!) or even the old public toilets: https://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/the-netty-oxford.en-gb.html?chal_t=1770573958398&force_referer=

Go to the Norrington Rooms in Blackwells for the biggest bookshop you’ve ever seen. You can get street food in the Westgate (but I recommend Beefy Boys at the top). Walk around the colleges/museums.

Depending on your budget obviously, I found a quirky hotel in London right near the natural history museum, think artificial turf on the life walks, each room individually designed etc, walk to independent neighbourhood type restaurants in South Kensington can particularly recommend a Japanese one. We took the national express from Bristol to Hammersmith then tube one way but just walked to Victoria coach station via the saachi gallery on the way back. Look and see if there’s anything suitable on at the royal Albert hall perhaps or the tour is interesting, photos of so many people who performed there line the walls, for classical concerts prices are much more reasonable, we had a box for £80 each

Awwww thanks for all of these but it turned out she really really had her heart set on York! She’s looking forward to the train journey apparently.

however some amazing ideas for our next trip and for a trip for dh and I in a few months time as well. I really appreciate all the responses…..

York - good choice. Lovely place to visit.

When you do go to Oxford, the Pitt Rivers museum is pretty quirky.

The only thing I can remember about York is Yorvic the Viking centre.

I’m really glad you’ve decided on York. I saw the first post and immediately thought of there.

York castle and museum are really good and you can climb Clifford’s tower.

Rowntree park, is lovely to visit with a walk on the river and had a really nice cafe. Also lovely to have a long walk along the city walls.

The shambles is also lovely to have a walk down and look in the quirky shops.

Eating wise obviously there’s Betty’s 😊 street food wise there’s Spark which is loads of shopping containers all together selling different street food. Brew and brownie are also good for a hot drink and cake. There’s also lovely big Waterstones for book browsing which does have a cafe if you need a pit stop. There’s also a few lovey grass areas around that you can sit and people watch from.

There’s also some really good ghost tours as well.

Bathonian here; CrossCountry trains Bristol to York used to be hellish and pricey. Drive or prepare yourselves. It was a while ago, but I do seem to remember that York school holidays were slightly out of sync with ours.

The Cat Trail is quite a nice way to explore the City. There are some streetfood stalls in the square behind The Shambles (beware the Harry Potter shops!), which might interest.

For another year, but I’ve been meaning to stay here: https://www.gladstoneslibrary.org/accommodation/

If she likes quirky and she is set on York have a look at Hokus Pokus hotel absolutely fabulous

I see you’ve chosen York but if you fancy a trip to Oxford during university holiday period it’s worth knowing you can b&b at some of the colleges. We stayed in one for DD’s graduation (Oxford Brooke’s). It was great value, had parking and beautiful grounds for a walk plus excellent breakfast.

https://www.universityrooms.com/en-GB/

We stayed at St Hughes as parking available (not an option at city centre colleges) and a short walk to the Cherwell Boathouse which we had booked for celebration dinner.